Picture (left): Mme. Dufaut on the Boulevards; more rubberneckers than customers.

The prospect of women cab drivers created a sensation and the Paris newspapers closely followed their progress. In February, 1907 the first two graduates – Mme. Charnier and Mme. Clementine Dufaut – spent their first day on the job driving around reporters and photographers who were keen to document the historic event.

The women cabbies were headline news and crowds of people surrounded the cab stands to gawk at them.